Monday, February 6, 2017

In defense of "effortful" style

One of the things I read about a lot in fashion publications is the
idolization of "effortless" style. Frequently found in the same
sentence as the phrase "French girl," it seems to indicate a way of lazy
dressing that just sort of magically looks gorgeous. Effortless style
seems to encompass a lot of wavy hair, wardrobe essentials like jeans
and boxy tops, black boots, and maybe an uninspired handbag. It's all
about drenching yourself in the boring basics, but looking darn good
doing it.

When I was new to
fashion and impressionable, I naturally felt that, because I'd read
about it, I had to aspire to it. I thought to myself, maybe I should
find a nice loose white T-shirt so I can sandwich it between my skinny
jeans and my moto jacket and look like a model off duty ("model off
duty" is another one of those phrases that gets tossed around in the
fashion world even more than "French girl"—again with the connotation
that you just threw something together from whatever was lying on the
floor of your closet, but it looks flawless because it's all
designer-label, and plus, you have the kind of natural appearance that
makes people pay you for the privilege of using your picture in
advertisements).

Two-plus years
later, and I still don't have a plain white T-shirt, mainly because I
recoil from the thought of paying more than 5 dollars for, well, a plain
white T-shirt! Also because, if I'm going to buy a shirt that's going
to be the foundation of an entire style of dress, it better be the
best-fitting, best-made T-shirt I've ever encountered, and so far, I
haven't found it. But also because, I simply don't have any desire to
build an outfit around a plain white T-shirt.

And
therein lies the real rub. "Effortless" is not part of my signature
look. I take pride in putting a lot of thought into every single outfit
that marches out my door. If anyone ever said to me, "Oh, you look like
you just rolled out of bed and slid into a pile of your clothes, and
it's amazing!", I would clock them one. Well, probably not, because I'm a
pacifist, but I would definitely take it as an insult. Every outfit
that I put on is a work of art. To have someone call it "effortless"
would be to dismiss my finely honed craft and downplay all the time that
went into its creation.

I don't
do effortless dressing. And I've come to realize that's OK. Because what
I have instead is "really intentional and creative" dressing, which to
me is far more fun.